No. 5 Harvard Men’s Squash Looks to Get Back on Track Saturday

Co-captain Jason Michas will try to lead Harvard back to the win column Saturday against No. 4 Rochester at the Murr Center.

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – The No. 5 Harvard men's squash team looks to break a two-match skid when it hosts No. 4 Rochester Saturday at the Murr Center. The match is slated for a noon start time.

No. 5 Harvard The Crimson is off to a 10-2 start overall and 2-1 mark in Ivy League action. After breaking out to a 10-0 start, Harvard has dropped its last two matches against No. 3 Princeton (5-4) and No. 1 Trinity (7-2).

After missing the first half of the season, Ali Farag has provided the squad with a boost in the No. 1 position since the turn of the new year. The freshman is the lone Crimson to stand at 3-0 in January. Alexander Ma has accumulated the most wins (10-2), while Nick Hopcroft (8-1), Julian Kirby (8-1) and Thomas Mullaney (8-1) follow closely behind.

Last Time Out Harvard dug itself a hole, losing its first five matches, before falling, 7-2, at No. 1 Trinity Jan. 21 in Hartford, Conn. Ali Farag, playing in the No. 1 spot, downed three-time All-American Vikram Malhotra, 3-1, while Gary Power (No. 4) also picked up a victory for the Crimson. It was Trinity's first match since No. 2 Yale snapped the Bantam's 252-match win streak, which lasted nearly 14 years.

Record Run Harvard opened the season 10-0, including a program record eight straight shutout victories. Harvard blanked Northeastern and Boston University by 9-0 tallies Dec. 4 to surpass the previous mark of six set by the 2004-05 Crimson.

No. 4 Rochester The Yellow Jackets are 6-2 overall this season with its only losses coming to then-No. 2 Yale and No. 3 Princeton. Against Yale, Rochester nearly pulled off an upset before falling to the Bulldogs, 5-4. The Yellow Jackets won at positions 1, 4, 8 and 9, while also narrowly falling, 3-2, at No. 3 and No. 6.

Most recently, Rochester downed No. 6 Cornell, 7-2. The Yellow Jackets are led by Andres Duany, who defeated former CSA Individual Championships runnerup Nick Sachvie at No. 1 against Cornell (11-8, 11-2, 11-4). Senior Brian Fischer has also seen time in the No. 1 position this season.

Harvard and Rochester have split four games against each other in the history of the series. The Yellow Jackets took both meeetings last season.

Next Up The Crimson continues Ivy League play throughout the month of February, starting with trips to No. 15 Columbia (Feb. 3) and No. 6 Cornell (Feb. 5)